you would have gotten more mileage out of it, mr. obama. >> cenk: michael that's a really interesting point. how much does politics play into the reactions of an administration during a disaster like this? >> here's what i explain to everybody. think about this. every disaster always involves the following... at least two u.s. senators, at least one congressman and at least the president of the united states. so for people to believe that politics doesn't play a role or at least politics isn't on the minds of politicians is just being naive. >> cenk: so if that's the case, why did the bush administration screw it up so badly. do you also acknowledge -- you were the former fema director at the time, d' acknowledge there were mistakes made and if so, you know, why get something so monumentally important politically let alone policywise wrong in that case? >> well, because i think there were political miscalculations during katrina and there were actual -- how would i describe it? there were actual leadership problems during katrina. re